The use of fans to protect crops from freezing conditions through the mixing and air movement effects of fans is well known. This “mixed air flow” technology reduces the impacts of temperature inversions near the ground surface, which greatly contribute to freezing conditions. However, this fan technology is conventionally operated by manual methods. Certain meteorological and crop related factors make the manual control of a multiple of wind machines difficult. An automated system is needed that responds to the natural meteorological conditions, such as wind, temperature and humidity, in the operational control of an array of wind machines.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,513,529 discloses a method for preventing frost damage to crops that includes a suggestion of placing an array of ground-level temperature sensors in an orange grove to detect the need for freeze protection. This approach is rudimentary, and only addresses temperature, with the use of pole mounted lights to indicate the need for air movement action by use of a helicopter. A system is needed that improves upon such a sensor system, to somehow operate frost protection automatically, with surface wind machines, as opposed to manually controlled aircraft.
The invention will be better understood by reference to the following detailed description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.